The Southern Cross - 120627

www.scross.co.za

June 27 to July 3, 2012

What the Holy Rosary can do for Africa

Page 9

NEW PRICE: R6,00 (incl VAT RSA) Reg No. 1920/002058/06

The Holy Land, without leaving home

No 4781

How to be a great father

Page 10

Page 12

Religious leaders: Unite in war on ‘evil’ corruption

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

R

The new lectionaries are now available, and are being distributed by the Mariannhill Mission Press. Fr Leonard Ndabenhle Mncwabe CMM, superior of the Mariannhill monastery, Kate du Toit, administration manager of Mariannhill Mission Press, and Fr Chris Townsend, information officer of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, are seen here with the new lectionary in the offices of the mission press.

Eucharistic Congress for Pretoria in July

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

T

HE archdiocese of Pretoria is set to host a Eucharistic Congress aimed at bringing the people of the archdiocese together and to promote an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church.

Co-organiser Fr Robert Mphiwe of St Anne’s parish in Atteridgeville said it was fitting to host the event as it comes right on the heels of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress held in Dublin in June, which Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria attended.

“Our archbishop attended the event in June, so we thought hosting our own congress in July would be a good idea,” Fr Mphiwe said.

“It’s about coming together to adore the presence of the Eucharist in Pretoria,” the priest said, adding that the event is for everyone in the archdiocese.

“We’re excited and we hope and pray we’ll get a good response.”

The event will take place on Sunday, July 15 at Christian Brothers College (CBC), Mount Edmund.

The congress starts at 10:00 with Adoration and a procession of the Eucharist. The Eucharistic celebration will be followed by a healing service and Benediction with Archbishop Slattery leading the service.

“It’s important to celebrate the Eucharist as we do every Sunday. But it is also important to recognise that the diocese is one big parish, to which we are all connected. It is a beautiful expression to come together in prayer as the local Church with our chief shepherd leading us,” Fr Mphiwe said.

“We are one Church split into different communities. It’s important to come

ELIGIOUS leaders have called on South Africans to take a united stand against corruption, an “evil that is attacking every level of society”.

A summit on corruption, held in Cape Town, brought together various areas of civil society including eight religious leaders, NGOs, and a representative of the Public Protector’s Office. They met to discuss the damaging effects of corruption and to make a commitment to stamping out the global issue.

Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, representing the Catholic Church, called corruption “morally unacceptable endemic” and rooted in greed and selfishness.

“The consequences are far reaching,” said Archbishop Brislin, the second deputy president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. “Not only are we robbing people of money, but also robbing people of opportunities and destroying futures. This leads to frustration and violence, and impacts on reconciliation because our divisions are kept alive,” Archbishop Brislin told the delegates. “Corruption threatens the dignity of all.”

Kate Lefko-Everett of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation said research showed that 35% of South Africans believe most or all government officials are corrupt, a figure which had doubled in three years.

Ms Lefko-Everett said the findings have significant repercussions. “Ordinary South Africans view corruption as rampant and while for most the belief was greater than the number of experiences, both perception and experience can erode fairness and rightness of government.”

A

People adore the Eucharist during the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in June. The archdiocese in Pretoria will host a one-day Eucharistic Congress on July 15, presided over by Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria, who attended the Dublin event.

(Photo: Paul Haring, CNS) together and to celebrate as that Church.”

A Eucharistic Congress—which can be held on an international, national or diocesan level—is intended to promote an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church, to help improve our appreciation and celebration of the liturgy, and to highlight the social dimension of the Eucharist. n For more information on the event contact the Pretoria chancery on 012 326 5311.

nglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town said corruption threatens our constitution. “Our ideals are tossed aside every time a bribe is taken or offered, an appointment made that was undeserved, or a tender awarded without merit.”

He said up to 20% of our national GDP is lost to corruption. “Imagine how much more schools and hospitals could do if they got 20% extra!”

South Africans should be careful not to blame all social issues on corruption, he said. Lack of staffing, lack of expertise, genuinely insolvable problems, and the fact that honest people do sometimes make mistakes are not a result of corruption.

“But misappointments of tenders, leases and business deals to those who have not earned it and bending the rules in our day to day lives—this is corruption,” said the primate of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa.

“The time has come to say enough is enough. We need to draw the line and stand against corruption. And our faith communities should be at the forefront of this line.”

Archbishop Makgoba said complacency is also an issue. He said it is unacceptable that South Africans have come to expect corruption. “If we’re not part of the solu-

Archbishop Stephen Brislin addresses a summit on corruption in which he and other speakers called on faith-based bodies to unite for action. (Photo: Claire Mathieson) tion, we’re part of the problem. To do nothing is to allow corruption to continue,” he said.

T

hemba Mthethwa, chief executive officer of the Office of the Public Protector’s Office, said corruption is the world’s most talked about issue. “It exists in all areas, both public and private.” Mr Mthethwa said faith-based communities have the power to turn the tide on corruption, adding that the Public Protector’s Office welcomes the opportunity to work with the communities.

He said the country’s places of worship had power because of the people they reach. “In some countries, there is no tolerance for corruption in communities. Guilty parties are shunned for it,” Mr Mthethwa said.

“Faith-based communities can ensure moral rejuvenation and positive attitudes.

The power to end corruption lies in collective hands.”

Dr Kobus Gerber, General Secretary of the Dutch Reformed Church said there was a gap between faith convictions and faith actions. “We are guilty,” he said. “It is time that we become fearless when addressing corruption. Your faith community will discipline you if you are corrupt,” he said.

Delegates of the summit heard from the Institute for Security Studies, who brought to light the many billions of rands misappropriated during apartheid still sitting in international bank accounts which could be retrieved; the Right2Know campaign, which said “our silence is corruption and fraudulent acts in itself;” and from NGOs in local townships who see a lack of service delivery despite funds being directed at these services.

Other faith leaders also shared their experiences. Imam Rashied Omar said society’s core values are marked by materialism and greed. “We need to keep the lamp of hope alive. Faith and hope go together and we need to celebrate our small victories,” he said in the fight against corruption.

Mickey Glass of the Union of Orthodox Synagogues of South Africa said South Africa has lost its moral compass. “‘Thou Continued on page 11

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LOCAL

The Southern Cross, June 27 to July 3, 2012

The state of Vatican ll today

Community gets wise E to danger of burns T

VERY year the Catholic Theological Society of Southern Africa holds a conference to discuss various topics which are of vital interest to the Catholic Church. This year’s meeting, to be held in September, will reflect on developments that have taken place since the Second Vatican Council opened a half century ago, and then look forward to where the Church could be going in the future.

“Pope John XXIII announced that the Council would be a ‘pastoral’ one, that is, a gathering of the world’s bishops to discuss how the Catholic Church should respond to the changing times,” the society’s Fr Anselm Prior OFM explained.

“He said that the Council would enable the Church ‘to face the future without fear’ and to speak to society today ‘making use of the medicine of mercy rather than severity’.

“The pope is said to have opened a window in his Vatican office as a sign that we need to open the window of the Church to the world around us so that we

STAFF REPORTER

HE community of Witsand, near Atlantis on the West Coast, benefited from a burns awareness event organised by Catholic Welfare and Development (CWD) with the help of other bodies concerned with issues of fire and burns.

The Winterwise Safety Awareness Campaign was led by the Crisis Relief Project, with contributions from City of Cape Town Fire & Rescue, Childsafe, the Paraffin Safety Association, 107 Emergency Communication Centre, Eskom, and the Phoenix Burns Project.

The Phoenix Burns Project is a Catholic-based organisation that addresses issues relating to burn injuries to children, as well as to relief and awareness.

JP Smith, the Cape Town mayoral committee member for Safety and Security, parliamentarian Denise Robinson and local ward councillor Barbara Rass also attended the event.

Each group’s presentation focused on a particular aspect of how to keep safe from burns and fire. Phoenix covered the main “avoid burns” messages, and gave advice on how to cool a burn.

The event ended with an extensive quiz and prizes which included food packs, duvets and pillows from CWD, cordless kettles from Phoenix and Eskom, as well as smaller items such as water bottles and pencil cases donated

A hip hop group performs at a Winterwise Safety Awareness Campaign in Witsand, near Atlantis on the West Coast.

by Eskom.

“With hot water burns being so prevalent, the cordless kettles were a good reinforcement of the message to keep kettle cords out of reach, or to buy kettles that don’t have this risk of being pulled from their working surface by children,” said May Bleeker-Phelan, project coordinator for the

STAFF REPORTER

could become relevant to the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of people today,” Fr Prior said.

“We are living in a different world from that of the 1960s and many of today’s pressing issues were not even thought of during the time the bishops met,” Fr Prior said. The Catholic Theological Society will therefore look at present needs “and what we are called to do in the future”.

Topics to be presented and discussed will include: “Archbishop Denis Hurley’s dream for the living out of the Council”, “Catholic social thought in terms of life and private property”, “Women’s role in the Church”, “Protestant and Reformed perspectives on the Council”, “Climate justice for all”, “Black theology”, and “Interpreting the Council today”.

The conference, titled The Council’s Legacy, will take place at Koinonia Retreat and Conference Centre in Johannesburg from September 10-12, 2012. It opens on Monday at 16:00 and ends on Wednesday at 13:00. n Further details, including costs, can be obtained from Fr Prior at prior.laurence@gmail.com or at www.caththeo.co.za

Phoenix Burns Project.

Mrs Bleeker-Phelan also took along toys and knitted beanies to distribute among the children.

Previous Winterwise Safety Awareness Campaigns were staged at Nomzamo & Broadlands Park in Strand in 2010, and at Masiphumelele, near Kommetjie, in 2011.

Ninth Bishop Hans Brenninkmeijer Memorial Lecture

Educating for Citizenship

DELIVERED BY DR MAMPHELA RAMPHELE Date: 24 July 2012 Time: 14:00 Place: St Benedict’s College 24 Kings Road, Bedfordview

RSVP Hilda Mushava, Tel: 011-433-1888, Fax: 011-680-9628 Email: hilda@cie.org.za Everyone is welcome. Refreshments will be served.

Mamphela Aletta Ramphele is the Founder of Citizens Movement for Social Change (CMfSC), focusing on promoting engaged citizenship. The major focus of CMfSC is to take South Africa on a Journey from Subjects to Citizens. She was Chair of the Convenors of the Dinokeng Scenarios sponsored by Nedcor/ Old Mutual that released its report in May 2009.

She is using the “Walk Together” scenario approach to underpin the Citizens Movement for Social Change journey from Subjects to Citizens. She was a leading activist in the Black Consciousness Movement. She is an author of several books and publications on socio-economic issues in South Africa, and has received numerous prestigious national and international awards, including numerous honorary doctorates acknowledging her scholarship, her service to the community, and her leading role in raising development issues and spearheading projects for disadvantaged persons in South Africa and elsewhere in the world.

Ramphele qualified as a medical doctor at the University of Natal in 1972. She holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from UCT, a B.Com degree in Administration from the University of South Africa and post graduate diplomas in Tropical Health and Hygiene, and Public Health from the University of Witwatersrand. Dr Ramphele is the Chairperson of the Technology Innovation and Goldfields.

Eleven teams from six Catholic schools in the East Rand and Johannesburg area participated in the annual Inter-Catholic Bible Quiz held at St Catherine’s School in Germiston. After six rounds of gruelling questions, the two teams from St Catherine’s emerged winners and runners up. The winners of the Inter-Catholic Bible Quiz, St Catherine’s “A” team: Stephen Ackerman,coach Mrs Davies, Marilyn Cileng, Justine Teixeira,i, Sylvio D’Hotman de Villiers (representative of the Knights of da Gama), Obakeng Manyathela.

St Joseph’s Theological Institute

(Association Incorporated Under Section 21) Registered with the Department of Education as a Private Higher Education Institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997.

Registration Certificate Number 2003/HE08/003

Private Bag 6004Hilton 3245 KwaZulu-Natal Republic of South Africa

Telephone:+27(33)3433293 Fax:+27(33)3435948 website:www.sjti.ac.za

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES DEPARTMENT

The Development Studies Department through its two academic programmes: Higher Certificate in Human and Social Development and Advanced Certificate in Human and Social Development seeks to provide a service to the Church and Society in general through the formation and training of leaders guided by a Christian ethos.

The Two Academic Programmes aim at: (a) Providing students with the basic understanding of the main concepts and theories of human and social development, (b) Empowering students with the basic understanding of how societies develop and function, and (c) Providing the basic knowledge to enable students to continue with further studies in the areas of human and social development.

Two Key Areas of Focus (a) Formation: the Department helps train men and women capable of working in Religious and Priestly formation programmes, and (b) Leadership in Social development: the department provides training to men and women, religious and lay capable of working in organisations and agencies that deal with issues of social development and advocacy.

Admission Criteria (a) Students registering for the Higher Certificate in Human and Social Development must have a National Senior Certificate (NSC) or its equivalent, (b) Students registering for the Advanced Certificate in Human and Social Development must have a minimum of a Higher Certificate in Human and Social Development or its equivalent, (c) Both programmes require proficiency in English as this is the language of instruction at the Institute.

Registration Registration for the academic year 2013 is open from July to December 2012. For more information contact: Academic Dean, e-mail: dean@sjti.ac.za

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, June 27 to July 3, 2012

3

Church addresses gender discrimination

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

‘T

HE Church needs to publicly condemn gender injustice.” This was the conclusion of a consultation on the impact of gender issues on the spread of HIV/Aids and to look at the role of the Church in addressing these issues.

Seven bishops attend the consultation which was collaboration between the Justice & Peace department and the Aids Office of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Various presentations were made by role players both within the Church and in civil society.

Professor Graham Lindegger, head of the School of Psychology at the

University of KwaZulu-Natal, said historically justice was about race, class and gender, but that gender was an afterthought.

“Only now, are we waking up to the realisation that gender oppression is as important as racial oppression,” he said. Prof Lindegger said there has been a realisation that masculinity in many ways was responsible for the endemic. “We need to realise that HIV/Aids is a gender disease. Men need to take responsibility.”

Mary Crewe from the Centre for the Study of Aids said in developing countries women are more likely to be infected with HIV than men, with young women outnumbering young men by 2:1.

Women continue to bear the

burden of care and very often assume the responsibility for many children orphaned by Aids, she said. “Violence against women or the threat of violence and coercion are all associated with HIV transmission for women of all ages. In fact, it is now believed that violence increases women’s and girl’s risk of contracting HIV threefold.”

Fr Charles Ryan SPS said the history of theology and the history of the Church were also replete with examples of the marginalisation and victimisation of women.

“If a large part of South African males are influenced by a perception of the appropriateness of patriarchy or kyriarchy it would be unwise to assume that Catholic men in South Africa have a differ-

ent perception. Men may react negatively to the very hearing of this description and terminology, but, if truth be told, many men— even the educated and presumably mature ones—have to admit to being tainted by such an idea.”

Fr Ryan said South Africa as a nation has a major problem in its attitude to women and “the Catholic Church in South Africa is not immune from that attitude”, he said.

The bishops also heard that if the battle against HIV/Aids was to be won and the infection on woman reduced, “men needed to be educated about HIV/Aids and rethinking masculinity”.

Community Aids activist Gethwana Mahlase said both the

Church and society needed people to talk to the young boys about being responsible boys and sons; how to be responsible boyfriends, brothers, schoolmates and classmates to change the mindset about their masculinity and sex.

The bishops heard that Catholic social teaching is a very valuable tool that should be used to educate both men and women on domestic violence, rape, gender and injustice.

The consultation heard that it is time for the Church to admit the truth about gender injustice and start asking forgiveness. The bishops were called to condemn any discrimination, especially in the matter of sexual violence, against women.

Cape Town embraces Alpha STAFF REPORTER

O

NE hundred and thirty priests, deacons and lay people from 39 parishes in the archdiocese of Cape Town accepted Archbishop Stephen Brislin's invitation to an Alpha Vision breakfast.

Held at Our Lady of Fatima parish in Bellville, Archbishop Brislin said that the call to a new evangelisation was now more important than ever before.

In 2006, shortly before he was ordained as bishop of Kroonstad, Archbishop Brislin attended an International Alpha Conference at Holy Trinity Brompton, the home of the Alpha course in London, said Paul Miles, the region’s Alpha advisor.

“Since then he has seen the Alpha course run in parishes both in Kroonstad and in Cape Town, and he is pleased to note that Alpha has proved to be an effective tool for evangelisation, and provides an opportunity to discover new ways of reaching the unevangelised and non-church-going Catholics. He urged all parishes to use Alpha to reach the unchurched and to deepen the experience of believers, saying that Alpha must form part of our efforts to renew faith.”

Tom Miles, the development manager of Alpha for CatholicsAfrica, said that Alpha is compatible with Catholic teaching.

“It does not present ecclesiology, but the kerygma, the basics of Christianity,” he said, adding that

“Alpha works, and through this, lives are changed”.

Alpha operates not only in parishes but also the ministries of marriage, marriage preparation, parenting of children and teenagers, among others. Sr Marie Brady described how prisoners had eagerly accepted the message Alpha brought them.

The rate of prisoners reoffending after release drops dramatically to about 8% among those who attended Alpha while in prison, she said.

The archbishop said he was proud of how welcoming the parishes in Cape Town were to visitors, and that while problems do exist in the Church, “we have so many people working and serving”. He said Alpha is another

Paul Miles, Renato Acquisto, Archbishop Stephen Brislin, Lola de Abreu and Tom Miles are seen at Cape Town’s Alpha Vision day. opportunity to extend this service.

He said that we have to be an evangelising Church, showing “gentleness, kindness and respect”.

“Evangelisation is not our work, but the work of the Holy Spirit

working through us,” Archbishop Brislin said. n For more information call Lola de Abreu on 021 555 4999 or Paul Miles on 082 931 5546, or visit alpha capetown.co.za

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INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, June 27 to July 3, 2012

Archbishop: The poor not heard at Rio+20

BY LISE ALVES

C

OINCIDING with the Rio+20 gathering of political leaders from around the world in Rio de Janeiro from June 20-22 to discuss the future of the planet, Catholic leaders said governments must not forget to put people at the forefront of their policies.

At a press conference at Rio’s St Sebastian cathedral, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio and permanent observer to the United Nations, Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, reiterated the Holy See’s position that people must remain at the centre of policies in all aspects of sustainable development.

“A truly human-centred approach must first and foremost uphold and respect the right to life,” he stated.

The secretary of the Brazilian bishops’ conference, Auxiliary

Bishop Leonardo Steiner of Brasilia, also said United Nations delegates should not forget the poor.

“The first to suffer are the poor, and we have the feeling that the poor are not being taken into consideration at Rio+20,” he said.

Brazilian bishops’ officials said people must understand that they are an integral part of creation and must live in harmony with and respect the other living creatures on the earth. Bishop Steiner said the Church is concerned with the way natural resources, such as water, air and soil were being used as commodities by market economies.

“We have to change our relationship with nature,” he said.

Bernd Nilles, secretary-general of CIDSE, an international alliance of Catholic agencies, said a sustainable and just world is a “world of social and environmental justice,

in which human rights are respected, in which policy and decisionmaking are transparent and inclusive, in which the economy serves people and respects the planet”.

Mr Nilles says that the current economic model “focuses on shortterm interests and the profits of a small minority, with too little regard for the poorest and most vulnerable people, with too little respect for the environment and too little consideration for future generations”.

Archbishop Chullikatt said: “Now is the time for governments to recognise that sustainable development starts with truly putting the human person at the forefront of our efforts.

“Maybe then, in 20 years’ time, if there is another Rio conference, we will see true progress in the creation of a more just and equitable world for all.”—CNS

A man from the Kayapo tribe holds sacred fire during a ceremony at KariOca village outside Rio de Janeiro before the UN Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development. (Photo: Ricardo Moraes, Reuters/CNS)

Terrorists strike at cathedral, churches Bertone: VatiLeaks

BY PETER AJAYI DADA & CINDY WOODEN

B

ISHOP George Dodo of Zaria, Nigeria, was in the middle of his homily “when we heard a loud explosion”.

A car bomb had just exploded near the cathedral of Christ the King, where the bishop was celebrating the second Mass of the day.

“The car bomb created a crater two feet deep; all around there was broken glass, rubble and burning cars,” the bishop told Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

Reuters reported ten people were killed at Christ the King.

Bombings also were reported at the Evangelical Church of the Good News in Zaria and at churches in Kaduna. Vatican Radio said that the total death toll from the bombings had reached 45 and some 100 people were reported injured, either by the bombings or by reprisal attacks afterwards.

The bombing of Christian churches is widely believed to be the work of Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist group.

Bishop Dodo said he had not

People gather near a bombed church in Kaduna. (Photo: Reuters) heard of any Christians in Zaria seeking revenge for the killings on their Muslim neighbours, although such attacks had been reported in Kaduna.

“Especially when the news of the attack against the Pentecostal church spread, young people responded with violence, destroying some properties,” he said.

“In the past few weeks several Christian churches in northern Nigeria have been attacked: It is likely that the perpetrators of this violence are following a precise agenda,” the bishop said.

Archbishop Matthew Ndagoso

of Kaduna told Catholic News Service: “Nowhere is safe now: the church, the market and the homes, no one knows where and when they can strike.

He expressed concern that the suicide bombers have figured out how to bypass state security measures. He said anxiety and apprehensions are written on the faces of Christians.

Sr Semira Carrozzo, an Italian member of the Oblates of Nazareth who has been in Nigeria for 22 years and runs a school in Kaduna, told Vatican Radio: “They attacked two churches in Kaduna and burned houses,” she said. “The Christians did not stay calm, but reacted immediately, in the worst possible way.”

She said Boko Haram is carrying out the attacks to destroy or at least dishearten Christians and make sure only Muslims win in the next elections.

The members of Boko Haram “are extremists,” she said. Since her school opened in 2000 there always have been Muslim children enrolled and the parents are supportive and friendly, she added.— CNS

like the crucifixion

BY FRANCIS X ROCCA

T

HE Vatican Secretary of State blamed an ongoing scandal over leaked Vatican documents on unethical journalists and a spirit of hostility towards the Catholic Church.

“Many journalists play at imitating Dan Brown,” said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in an interview with the Italian magazine Famiglia Cristiana. “They continue to invent fables or repeat legends.”

Cardinal Bertone made his remarks as Vatican judges were investigating leaks to Italian journalists of dozens of documents, including letters to the pope and encrypted cables from Vatican embassies around the world, several of which hint at power struggles among officials of the Holy See. “The truth is that there is a malicious will to produce division” among the collaborators of Pope Benedict, the cardinal said.

The Catholic Church “is an unambiguous point of reference

for innumerable persons and institutions around the world,” he said.

“For this reason some try to destabilise it, and shatter this rock, this 2 000-year old institution that continues to carry out its proper mission of witness, reconciliation, justice, unity, solidarity.”

The cardinal likened the experience of the scandal, for the pope and Vatican officials, to that of the crucifixion.

Noting that the publication of private letters violates the Italian constitution’s guarantee of a right to privacy, Cardinal Bertone lamented that stories of the Church’s extensive charitable works have been “intentionally ignored or erased” amid heavy press coverage of the scandal.

Cardinal Bertone denied that the dismissal last month of Ettore Gotti Tedeschi as president of the Vatican Bank represented any resistance to efforts to increase transparency at the institution, formally known as the Institute for Religious Works.—CNS

Australian Anglicans convert to Catholic Church

BY ROBERT HIINI

S

OME 40 former Anglicans in Perth, Australia, entered into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Earlier the first head of the personal ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Fr Harry Entwistle, was ordained to the Catholic priesthood.

English-born Fr Entwistle, 72, is married and has two grown children.

In his homily at the ordination,

Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe praised the priest for his courage, both in embracing Catholicism and in accepting his new role as ordinary.

“The rich Anglican tradition has formed and nourished you all and has been the home in which you have discovered the beauty and the call of God,” the archbishop said.

In 2009, Pope Benedict issued the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum

coetibus, providing for the establishment of ordinariates for former Anglicans who join the Catholic Church while retaining some of their Anglican traditions, spirituality and prayer.

The first ordinariate, Our Lady of Walsingham in England, was established in 2011. The personal ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter, for former Anglicans in the United States, was erected in January.—CNS

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INTERNATIONAL

What bishops will discuss at New Evangelisation synod

BY CINDY WOODEN

C

ATHOLICS who act like their faith has nothing to do with daily life and a Church structure that is more bureaucracy than service are two impediments to the Church’s ability to proclaim faith in Jesus, said the working document for the next world Synod of Bishops.

“Every one of the Church’s actions has an essential evangelising character and must never be separated from the duty to help others encounter Christ in faith,” said the document that will guide the work of the synod, scheduled for from October 7-28 at the Vatican with the theme: “The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”.

The working document said the bishops and other synod participants will focus on: faith in Jesus as the heart of evangelisation; how changes in the world impact belief and the practice of the faith; how liturgy, catechesis and charitable activity do or should bring people to faith; and a look at particular ways Catholics evangelise and educate people in the faith.

The new evangelisation, it said, “will also involve the courage to

denounce the infidelities and scandals” within the Church and “to acknowledge faults while continuing to witness to Jesus Christ”.

Looking within the Church, the document said, “many lament the excessive bureaucratic character” of Church structures, which are “perceived as being far removed from the average person and his everyday concerns”.

The synod’s working document is based on responses to an outline and questionnaire. The responses came from 114 bishops’ conference, 26 Vatican offices and the international unions of superior generals of religious orders.

“Some responses,” the document said, “complained of the excessively formal character of liturgical celebrations, an almost routine celebration of rituals and the lack of a deep spiritual experience, which turn people away instead of attracting them.”

Pope Benedict called the synod to respond to a situation where, “because of a lack of faith, various particular churches are witnessing a decline in sacramental and Christian practice among the faithful to the point that some members can even be called ‘non-believers’,” the

document noted.

During the synod, the Church will also launch of the Year of Faith called by Pope Benedict to energise Catholics and Catholic communities and promote a deeper knowledge of the essential tenets of faith.

In evaluating signs that call for a renewed evangelisation of the baptised, the working document cited: “a weakening of faith in Christian communities, a diminished regard for the authority of the magisterium, an individualistic approach to belonging to the Church, a decline in religious practice and a disengagement in transmitting the faith to new generations”.

The document said a major challenge to the new evangelisation is the growing idea that faith is opposed to freedom and that the Church’s claims to know what is true is suspect or even dangerous.

While many Catholics who question the Church’s claims of truth may continue to do good works, without the strength of faith and the support of the Christian community, it said, their good works are bound to weaken over time and their activity will lose its power to bring others to Christ.— CNS

Proof found that Bethlehem existed

I

SRAELI archaeologists have discovered a seal containing the oldest mention of Bethlehem ever found, dating back to 2 700 years ago.

“The Bible mentions Bethlehem. Now, this is proof that the city existed at the time,” said Eli Shukron, an archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority, reports Vatican Insider.

The 1,5cm-long seal was found at a large archaeological site just outside the walls of Jerusalem where it is believed King David built his castle.

Simone Venturini, professor of Biblical Science at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, told Vatican Insider that “it is easy for those used to ‘denying’ the historicity of the Bible to find any possible excuse to claim that this or that city mentioned in the

Bethlehem today.

Scriptures never really existed.

Especially in Italy, where the press knows everything about ...the UEFA Champions’ League, but little or nothing of the book that is the foundation of European civilisation”.

He referred to the disputes concerning the authenticity of Nazareth, the town where the gospels say Jesus grew up.

“Until a few years ago there was no evidence of its existence before the third century AD, but in 2009 the archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre proved beyond any doubt the existence of a house dating back to the first century, when Jesus lived,” Prof Venturini said.

The discovery of the Bethlehem seal is just as important, he said.

“The seal was probably used to dispatch the tax payments owed

by Bethlehem to King Judas... around eight or seven hundred years BC,” he said.

An inscription “contains basic information of a dispatch to the king ruling over the southern kingdom, in other words Judaea,” Prof Venturini said.

“For the first time the city of Bethlehem is mentioned outside the Bible.”

The

The Southern Cross, June 27 to July 3, 2012

Ferghan McGrath, 33, from Trim, Ireland, shows his tattoo of God the Father during the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.

Mr McGrath said the tattoo was his way of saying thank you to Jesus after undergoing a major conversion.

(Photo: Paul Haring, CNS)

Study: Traditional family is still the best for kids

BY DENNIS SADOWSKI

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OUNG adults raised by their biological parents in a stable intact marriage fared better emotionally, socially and relationally, according to a University of Texas at Austin study.

The New Family Structures Study by Mark Regnerus of the university’s Population Research Center measured outcomes in 40 areas, including social and economic well-being, psychological and physical health, sexual identity, sexual behaviour and criminal behaviour.

Mr Regnerus surveyed 2 988 young adults from 18 to 39 years old in 2011. Those questioned came from different family or home environments including traditional families, late-divorced, single-parent and adoptive families, and homes with a step-parent or a parent in a same-sex relationship.

The findings appear in the July 2012 issue of Social Science Research.

Mr Regnerus wrote that the study provides data and information that shows there are differences in outcomes between children raised by their married biological mothers and fathers and children raised by a parent who is in a same-sex relationship.

“Children appear most apt to succeed well as adults—on multiple counts and across a variety of domains—when they spent their entire childhood with their married mother and father, and especially when the parents remain married to the present day,” Mr Regnerus said.

The study is significant to note because of the sample size, which is much larger than those of other studies that showed no difference in the outcome of children raised by traditional families or same-sex parents, said Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, California, the chairman of the US bishops’ subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.—CNS

Souther n Cross

HOLY STONES, LIVING STONES PILGRIMAGE TO

HOLY LAND • ROME • ASSISI • CAIRO 27 September - 11 October 2013 with

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BISHOP JOE SANDRI MCCJ

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ITALY: Rome with PAPAL AUDIENCE, the four major basilicas (including Mass in St Peter’s), catacombs, ancient sites. Assisi and the beautiful Rieti Valley, where St Francis lived and invented the Christmas crib.

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6

The Southern Cross, June 27 to July 3, 2012

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Evangelisation by love

T

HE defining theme for the Church in 2012 and the year after will be the New Evangelisation, a project initiated by Pope John Paul II and now a pillar of Pope Benedict’s pontificate.

We get an idea of how Pope Benedict imagines the Year of Faith, which will run for 13 months as of October 11, in the title of the document he issued to declare it: Porta Fidei, or the Door of Faith.

Where Pope John XXIII, in calling for the Second Vatican Council, sought to open the windows of the Church to disperse the dust that had settled within the Church and to let the world in, Pope Benedict is hoping to open the doors of the Church to those who have placed themselves outside it.

Likewise, he is appealing to those, individually and communally, who have their roots in the Christian faith but have turned from it to open their doors—their hearts—to Christ and his Church.

The pope knows that the mission of the Church cannot be communicated by the hierarchy alone, and that the message of the Church is transmitted in many different and often unexpected ways.

The working document for the Synod of Bishops on New Evangelisation, to be held from October 7-28 at the Vatican, acknowledges the scope of that obligation: “Every one of the Church’s actions has an essential evangelising character and must never be separated from the duty to help others encounter Christ in faith.”

This includes every action that Catholics perform as members of the Church. Regardless of where we reside in the hierarchy of the Church, we are representatives of the Body of the Christ, collectively and individually.

Just as we can bring people closer to Christ through our good example, so can our actions alienate them from Christ and his Good News of salvation.

One may argue about the definitions of such good examples, but the one quality that must be common to any of them, right at the top, is love. Love through charity for those in need, and love as a manifestation of mutual respect for others.

The early Christian writer Tertullian (c.160–c.225 AD) noted that the pagans were taken aback at the sense of love among the followers of Christ: “‘Look,’ they say, ‘how they love one another’.” It was that love, more than any teaching, that attracted many pagans to the faith.

In the centuries since then, Christians often forgot Christ’s commandment to love one another, even and especially when they are in disagreement.

It is this sense of Christian love and the projection of Christian joy, more than impassioned argumentation and fervent rhetoric, which we must revive and learn to express if we are to meet Pope Benedict’s call for a New Evangelisation.

We will not evangelise by bad example, or by lacking in compassion, or by appearing enraged with the world. We will not persuade by aggression, but by the way our faith gives us joy and hope, even amid our sorrows.

In the words of Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, an evangelising Church must show “gentleness, kindness and respect”.

In a world dominated by the social media, the opportunities for engaging with others are immense.

Addressing an audience at the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin this month, Auxiliary Bishop Frank Caggiano of Brooklyn, New York, called on young Catholics to be present on the web as witnesses of Christ to their peers: “Many people, especially young people, are searching in the electronic world for a word of hope in their troubles, a word of consolation in their fears, a word of welcome in their loneliness.”

In the domain of social media as elsewhere, Catholics, of any age, must act sensibly. They must know the teachings of the Church and express them truthfully, patiently and not by way of condemnation.

To evangelise effectively, they must reflect their relationship with Christ and the joy they find in it and in the sacraments of the Church.

The most potent form of New Evangelisation will be the witness of people who radiate the glow of Christ’s love.

Let them shine!

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion. Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

Equip our children properly in the faith!

ANY thanks for the excellent editorial of June 6, “Are Catholic Schools still Catholic?”.

Many Catholics are concerned regarding the apparent disparity between the so-called “Catholic Ethos” and the quality of religious education for Catholics in our schools in recent years, and possibly, since Vatican II. Many Catholic schools are teaching only “common ethics and values” without reference to the power: God in Jesus Christ, in a dynamic relationship empowered by the Holy Spirit, as well as a thorough grounding in the truths of Catholic Christianity as revealed

by Jesus Christ.

I was a pupil at Christian Brothers College, Boksburg from Grade 7 to Matric, from 1954-59.

This was before Vatican II, and yet in addition to the normal subjects on the school curriculum, we had additional periods, daily, for scripture and religious instruction for the Catholics in the class.

From Grade 7 to 9 our scripture study course was on the gospels of Luke, Matthew and the Acts of the Apostles. In Grades 11 and 12, we studied in detail, the book Hart’s Catholic Doctrine, which still remains fresh in my memory. We were thus thoroughly equipped in knowledge of the New Testament and in Catholic doctrine.

Once a year, Mgr Desmond Hatton would come from Pretoria to test the class in the quality of its knowledge of the faith. Out of a class of an average of about 40 learners, about 50% were Catholic. The one Jewish pupil in our class had a special religious syllabus (Old Testament) prepared for him by the Brothers, in consultation with his rabbi.

I came from a home where my mother, though not Catholic, by a special grace of God, had my five siblings and me baptised and educated in Catholic schools, for which I am more and more grateful as I grow older. My mother was converted to Catholicism virtually on her death-bed in 1958.

My father was sadly a life-long lapsed-Catholic. For my strong Catholic faith, I am deeply indebted to the initiative of my mother, the Christian Brothers and the Dominican Sisters at Springs, before that.

With the quality of religious education in many Catholic schools today, do we wonder why the number of young Catholics not practising, or who have left the Church for the many antiCatholic fundamentalist evangelical sects, is at an all-time high?

Are our private Catholic schools today only affordable to well-off families?

The answer lies in implementing the New Evangelisation with a vengeance to adequately equip our young people to really know Jesus Christ and “to be able to defend the Church he founded against the many non-Catholic agents before which many of us stand today in lamentable helplessness”, in the words of Bl John Paul the Great.

John Lee, Johannesburg

Search for God

No ‘Lord’s team’

Grandmum’s delight

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F

I

All are bound by God’s laws

We tried

OR those who doubt the existence of God, the book New Proofs for the Existence of God, by Robert Spitzer, mentioned in the Catholic Bookshop’s book list for May/June might be of interest.

The flyer says, “Spitzer examines the Eucharistic evidence for God and creation that has come to light from physics and philosophy during the last 40 years”. Eexpensive at R266, maybe several people could club together to buy it. Also, Dawkins’ God Delusions by Klaus Nürnberger sounds interesting.

We need to remember that school catechism can only teach children the ABC of religion. To explain further is one’s personal responsibility.

B Haylett, Howick, KZN

I

REFER to your well-balanced editorial entitled “Reframing the message” (May 23), wherein you write that “non-Catholics are not bound by the Church’s teachings”.

Our Lord gave his mandate to the Catholic Church to teach all nations. Therefore, all people, Catholic and non-Catholic are bound by the Church’s teachings on abortion, homosexuality, marriage, divorce and so on.

Franko Sokolic, Cape Town

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WAS disappointed in the Holy Fathers choice of metaphor, “the Lord’s team”, as you reported on May 30.

God, the Father, created us all and therefore loves us all equally.

He does not have teams. He does not choose one man over another.

We can’t get nearer to God than everyone else because God is within each of us. By loving God, we learn to love our individuality.

Once we recognise God in ourselves, we can recognise him in others.

Christ, his death and his Church, are for all people. Sadly many have used Christ’s teachings to take what they want.

Christopher Grealy, Johannesburg,

I

AM appalled that we as Catholics in our time had to be turned away from Catholic schools just because our children did not have the proper percentage required to be accepted at the time we wanted to send them.

Now, we are being asked “How Catholic are our schools?” No wonder!

Do try and scrutinise the parents first, as some of us strive to help our children no matter what the subject!

Josephine Lucia Clarke, Johannesburg

A

COUPLE of years ago I went to Northern Ireland to visit my daughter, her husband and my two beautiful grandsons.

My daughter and her husband are a deaf couple; both the boys are hearing. Every night I would read Bible stories to Carlo, then six years old, and when I had finished we would pray and ask God for a sunny day as we would be going sightseeing the next day.

On my return to South Africa I phoned Carlo one evening and asked: “How are things going?”

“Well, Gran,” he said, “you are not going to believe this! I forgot to say my prayers last night, and this morning when I woke up the sun was shining! And I didn’t even ask God! It came out all by itself! I think God did his own praying!”

I miss my grandchildren so much; I wish they weren’t so far away.

Arlene Cabral, Ballito, KZN Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy.

The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate. Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

PERSPECTIVES

‘He descended into hell’

B

ELIEF in bodily resurrection has always been at the centre of the Christian Church. St Paul went as far as to say that if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and your faith is vain (1Cor 15.17).

Nowhere was the resurrection argued for more strongly than in North Africa. St Augustine of Hippo defended the Resurrection. He argued, in the tradition of St Paul, that because Christ has risen, there is the resurrection of the dead.

He argued that the death and resurrection of Jesus was for the salvation of man: “To achieve each resurrection of ours, the saviour paid with his single life, and he pre-enacted and presented his one and only one by way of sacrament and by way of model”.

But first, what does Christ descending to hell means?

The Greek word Hades—translated as “hell” in the Apostles’ Creed—is the underworld of Greek mythology, not necessarily the place of permanent punishment of those utterly lost forever. It corresponds with the sheol of Old Testament Jewish teachings. It is distinct from the “lake of fire”, mentioned only in Revelation, which is what we tend to understand as “hell”, the place of eternal punishment for the unrepentant.

What emerges clearly from the Bible is that all those who died before Christ slept in their graves, awaiting a resurrection to the new earth, under God’s heavenly Kingdom. Christ, according to St Peter, went there to make sure that all, even those separated from God through their unbelief, would hear the Good News and be granted opportunity to convert.

For instance, when Job was suffering he prayed to die: “Who will grant me this, that thou mayst protect me in (the

grave)... and appoint me a time when thou wilt remember me?” (Job 14:13). In John 8:56, Jesus said: “Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it and was glad.”

So the resurrection of Christ opened up the floodgates of heaven. St Paul insists that the resurrection of those who believe the Good News is an act of partaking in the mystery of God becoming man.

He makes it clear that our dependence on Christ is not just in the spiritual realm alone, but physically too. Christ also had insisted on this: “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:53). Many were scandalised.

In fact, Christ used even a stronger term, trógó, which is Greek for the verb “to gnaw—”unless you gnaw the flesh…”

Many today also, including some fellow Christians, are scandalised by the Catholic insistence on the Real Presence in the consecrated host. To them, John 6:53 should be understood only in the

Jesus the Risen Saviour, surrounded by his disciples as he pulls Adam and Eve from the depths of hell to salvation, in a mosaic at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.

Ordained ministry renewed

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LTHOUGH it has been seen primarily as a “pastoral” council, Vatican II had a dramatic impact on ordained ministry. It restored the permanent diaconate and it called on the Church to rethink the ministerial priesthood.

The effects of this were nothing if not mixed and has provoked in many circles a variety of reactions.

In the early Church deacons were ordained to serve the Church under the local bishop. From Apostolic times, the Acts of the Apostles report, as the Church grew the ministries of oversight, preaching and presiding at the Eucharist, and what we would today call social work (caring for the poor) became too great for one person to perform alone.

The Acts recounts how seven men were chosen and consecrated for social service.

This was the origin of the order of deacons.

As the Church expanded, deacons became increasingly important; some even were elected popes in the first five centuries of Christendom. By the 20th century however, the permanent diaconate had disappeared—men chosen to share and assist the bishop in proclamation of the Word and celebration of the Sacraments (priests) were ordained deacons in transition to priesthood.

By the 1960s, once again, the shortage of ordained ministers in many parts of the world (notably Latin America) was acute. When the Council convened there arose a call from the Americas to find new ways to resolve the vocation crisis.

One solution proposed, and accepted, was the restoration of the permanent diaconate.

Lumen Gentium (1964) kick-started— more accurately restarted—the diaconate.

In paragraph 29 it stated that given the needs of the Church in many areas, “it will be possible in the future to restore the diaconate as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy”.

Within a few years of Vatican II the first permanent deacons—most of whom, as in the early Church, were married men—were ordained in Germany, Cameroon and the United States. Within a few decades married permanent deacons could be found throughout the Church, including South Africa.

Spurred on by the acceptance of married deacons, some bishops at the Council (mostly Latin Americans again, but

with some African bishops concurring) called for the end to compulsory celibacy for diocesan priests ordained in the Latin Rite.

Pope Paul VI withdrew the issue from discussion however, saying that he would issue a statement on it later. In 1967 he ruled, despite growing calls for reform, that the obligation of celibacy should remain.

Celibacy remains in force despite ongoing calls for change and a small but steady number of departures of priests from active ministry in order to marry.

T

he issue of married priests, and subsequently the question of women’s ordination, remain neuralgic points in the Church. Where one stands on these issues has become almost a litmus test of orthodoxy.

For those priests seeking advancement they are subjects best ignored in conversation, least of all examined in print.

One priest, the Sri Lankan Fr Tissa Balasuriya OMI, was excommunicated in 1997 in part for his support for women’s ordination (it was rescinded a year later); and many South African Catholics believe that the late Archbishop Denis Hurley was never made a cardinal because he sympathised with both a married priesthood and women’s ordination.

Whatever one thinks of the latter issues, no matter where one’s sympathies fall, it would be a mistake nonetheless to think that Vatican II didn’t change the way the ministerial priesthood was understood. Two important documents, Optatem Totius and Presbyterorum Ordinis (both 1965) called for a new understand-

Mphuthumi Ntabeni

Reflection on the Apostles Creed – Pt 6

symbolic sense, as a figure of speech.

But the Catholics believe the Eucharist is the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is really and substantially contained in it.

We believe eating the flesh of Christ in the Eucharist is the condition for our resurrection.

When Jesus reveals himself to the eleven (still called The Twelve) on Easter evening, “he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen”.

Stranger still was the power the resurrected body of Christ possessed; no longer limited by physical objects, space or time.

In physical laws this means the elements of Christ’s resurrected body travelled faster even than the speed of light. Hence St Paul calls him “the man of heaven”.

There are those who say the Resurrection narrative was produced by the apostles’ naïve faith (or credulity). On the contrary, the Gospel makes it a point of emphasising just how dumbfounded and disbelieving they were. It makes it clear that their faith in the Resurrection was born “under the action of divine grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen Jesus”.

Christ’s resurrection is a subject of faith because it is a transcendent intervention of God in creation and history. In Christ’s resurrection, God, who entered human history, overtakes it to draw it to the Omega-point to share in the divine life.

This gives a new meaning to Christ’s saying that “when I’m lifted up, I will draw all things to myself”.

Anthony Egan SJ

A Church of Hope and Joy

ing of priestly formation and the priesthood itself.

With regard to the formation of priests (Optatem Totius) the Council called for a revamping of seminary formation. Seminarians should be properly formed in all areas of theology in a way that more adequately prepared them for ministry in an increasingly complex society.

Apart from doctrine they needed a far more solid grounding in Scripture, so that they could more effectively preach the Word to contemporary people.

They also needed a decent grounding outside theology in disciplines such as psychology and sociology, so that their future ministry would be more in touch with the real challenges faced by people to whom they ministered.

In Presbyterorum Ordinis the traditional understanding of priesthood was confronted, too, with the needs of a contemporary Church. The people of God needed priests who were more in touch with the lives they led. Priests, too, were understood to be in a more collaborative relationship with their bishop than before. A more apostolic rather than monastic-contemplative spirituality was envisioned.

As we know, the post-Vatican II period proved a hard time for priests. Many left, some because they could not face the more egalitarian tone of parish life: too much changed, too fast!

Others left because they expected far more change than materialised, including a relaxation of the discipline of celibacy.

Those who remained had to struggle between change on one hand (and often further expectations of change from laity and some priests) and movements of resistance and reaction on the other.

Wherever one stands on these reforms, and whether one is a priest or deacon who lived through the Council or a “John Paul II cleric”, for whom the Council is a page in history, the Council changed the face of ordained ministry.

Perhaps what we can all learn from it is the ongoing issues facing ministry (married priests, women’s ordination) should be addressed in a manner befitting the way the Council was run: civilly, openly, and with a spiritual generosity that presumes good intent on the part of all taking part in the debate.

The Southern Cross, June 27 to July 3, 2012

7

Michael Shackleton

Open Door

Handshakes at Mass Was it after Vatican II that the practice of shaking hands at Mass prior to receiving the Eucharist, came into being? It seems to be at an inappropriate time, especially when in the winter months, many are coughing and blowing their noses.

Bernard Moat

V

ATICAN II promulgated its teaching on the sacred liturgy in 1963, in the document known as Sacrosanctum concilium. It was the very first document discussed by the Council in its first session of 1962, probably because the liturgy had come under pressure from reformists.

For many decades there had been a powerful lobby for renewal from greatly respected liturgists. They wanted the Church to revise sacred rites, trim them of their redundancies and make them more accessible to the faithful.

The exchanging of the sign of peace goes way back to the earliest days when Christians embraced at the Eucharist to show how they loved one another in Christ. As time went by, the practice was lost to the faithful and became confined to the sanctuary during a solemn high Mass, where the priest and his ministers performed a rather staged rendition of a solemn ritual salute, holding each other lightly and giving each another a perfunctory nod.

Today the expression of the sign of peace among the congregation is determined by local custom, usually a handshake and the words: “Peace be with you”. It takes place after we have all prayed to God to forgive our sins and, at the same time, sought forgiveness from one another.

In other words, we show that we want to be mutually reconciled before God. In this spirit of solidarity, we may now approach the altar to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.

There have been instances in this country and elsewhere where the bishop or parish priest has stopped the handshake and the reception of the Precious Blood from the chalice during an outbreak of a serious viral illness, such as bird flu or meningococcal disease.

When there is a real threat of contagion from parishioners who have influenza or a very bad cold, the parish priest may advise his people not to shake hands. Otherwise, you may simply bow politely to someone who wants to shake your hand, and wish them peace.

Ill persons who suspect they might spread their ailment to others should considerately stay away from Mass until they are well.

n Send your queries to Open Door, Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000; or e-mail: opendoor@scross.co.za; or fax (021) 465 3850. Anonymity can be preserved by arrangement, but questions must be signed, and may be edited for clarity. Only published questions will be answered.

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COMMUNITY

The Southern Cross, June 27 to July 3, 2012

Pope Benedict addressed the pilgrims at Croke Park via video link after Communion at the closing Mass.

The 50th International Eucharistic Congress was held in Dublin, Ireland, this month, with the city’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin as its president. The congress theme was: “The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with One Another”. FR MATTHIAS NSAMBA of Queenstown was at the closing Mass in Croke Park, which attracted 75 000 people, and shared his photos with The Southern Cross for a special Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria (centre), Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of edition of the Community Johannesburg and (right) and Fr Nsamba of the Queenstown diocese at the closPics page. ing ceremony of the Eucharistic Congress.

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Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the papal delegate to theEucharistic Congress, is seen on a monitor. The Canadian cardinal also visited the shrine of Our Lady of Knock and addressed the packed basilica.

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Fr Nsamba with a group of concelebrating priests at the closing ceremony.

Fr Nsamba at Croke Park.

CHURCH

The Southern Cross, June 27 to July 3, 2012

The key to change in Africa’s Church What does the Rosary mean to the Church in Africa? BR DAMAZIO MUBELU NGOMA OP reflects on Africa’s pastoral challenges and the power of the Rosary to transform.

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HE Catholic Church in Africa changed profoundly between the start of the Second Vatican Council in 1962 and the first Synod of Bishops for Africa in 1994.

Inculturation—the process of adapting the way the faith is lived in local contexts—has taken liturgical worship to a higher level. The devotion to the Holy Rosary is a key in this development.

The call to holiness through devotion to the Holy Rosary is the hope of the Church in Africa. It is one of the vehicles through which the local Church can inculturate the Christian mysteries into people’s lives.

The prayers of the Holy Rosary are basically centred on the intercessions of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

She intercedes for us. She plays a major role in this regard.

From the biblical perspective, Mary occupies a place in several important salvific events. We have the Old Testament prophecies which point to Mary and Jesus Christ being referred to as “the woman and her seed” (Gen 3:15).

At the Annunciation Mary gives her formal assent to the will of God, saying: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word” (Lk 1:37-38). Finally, in the Magnificat, we see Mary praising God for the graces and blessings she has received.

The Gospel of Luke gives a strong testimony to this fact. There are two crucial elements: Mary assenting to the will of God, and her “Magnificat”, in which she praises God for all that she has received. These two elements make Mary unique to the human and Christian family.

When Christians recite and devote their lives to the Rosary, they are re-enacting Mary’s acquiescence in the will of God. The power of the Rosary resides in the positive and affirmative action of the will of God through Mary’s intercession.

It is for this reason that the Rosary is so important for the liturgy. The liturgy is the forum where Christians witness their Christian faith through their worship, as Vatican II’s “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” affirms.

It is through liturgical worship that Christians express their “yes” to the will of God. Mary, the mother of the Church, through the Rosary, will help Christians to live and witness their faith in liturgical worship.

Today, the devotion and prayers of the Rosary have assumed a communal nature. Christians from various backgrounds meet regularly to

recite the prayers of the Rosary.

There are international Rosary confraternities aimed at giving praise and honour to the Blessed Virgin and to secure her patronage for spiritual benefits. Such confraternities have helped build up family relationships, Small Christian Communities, outstations, parishes and dioceses.

On the pastoral level, the confraternities have played a vital role in the transformation of many Christians. They have been key in challenging certain dehumanising ideologies and trends that are unchristian.

The call to holiness is mandatory to all Christians and it is within the realm of the promoters of the Holy Rosary to help Christians attain this objective through the recitation of the Holy Rosary.

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he current situation in various African countries reflects the reality of fear and hope. There has been much technological and scientific progress in many areas of human life. Yet the African continent has been afflicted by issues that really hinder integral human development.

Professor Laurenti Magesa, the Tanzanian moral theologian who will deliver this year’s Winter Living Theology course in July and August, once listed Africa’s problems: incurable diseases that cost the lives of millions of people, hunger that is still dehumanising so many people (particularly in the rural areas), economic crises that have affected many African countries due to lack of good governance, political crises due to poor regimes in various countries, human rights abuses at various levels, wars and crime that are still affecting millions of Africans, and so many other relevant issues.

The Church in Africa exists in the midst of such a situation. The current situation jeopardises progress in the area of evangelisation. Largely, such issues affecting the African person are part of the pastoral challenges facing the Church.

There are also internal issues that challenge the Church. In his apostolic exhortation on the first Synod for Africa, Ecclesia in Africa, Pope John Paul II affirmed that Christians in most sectors are still living with double standards. This remains a big challenge facing the Church in Africa. This is where inculturation must come in.

Theologically, inculturation deals with the incarnate Word of God becoming fresh in our lives. According to the theologian E T Charles, the Word of God comes to us as Africans within the context of a unique African cultural background; it purifies us and finally leads us to eternal salvation.

Inculturation then becomes a living witness of Jesus’ incarnation in our own unique way. Mary still becomes the channel through which all this reality could be fulfilled in us, but only through the

life of holiness.

One way to holiness is through the life of sacraments, devotion to the Holy Rosary, a good prayer-life, worship that is public and private and so many other means designed by the Christian faithful.

The devotion to the Rosary is one of the most important paraliturgies in the Catholic Church which helps Christians attain holiness.

Mary’s role continues in the life of the Church, leading people to holiness without obscuring or diminishig the unique mediation of Jesus Christ. Lumen Gentium, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, states that Mary and other saints have been transformed and have become effective images of Christ, and it is always the inner transforming presence of God that ultimately counts.

Our Mother Mary simply intercedes for us. The Rosary then becomes an object of devotion in the sense that it helps Christians to access God’s graces and blessings.

Lumen Gentium affirms that devotion to Mary and the Rosary expresses three fundamental principles of Catholic theology: the principle of mediation, the principle of sacramentality and the principle of communion. Therefore, through the prayer of the Rosary, Christians are united with Mary, the Church, Jesus Christ and God our loving Father.

The bishops have repeatedly called the Church in Africa a family of God. In a family, from the African perspective, everything is

done at a community level. Each member of the family has a role to play. In that light, the Church family becomes the primary confraternity of the Christian brotherhood. It is there that Christians develop their devotion to the Rosary.

Praying the Rosary in a confraternity set-up therefore is not artificial to African communities. Christians experience the love of God through the graces they receive when they recite the prayers of the Holy Rosary.

This does not in any way limit or reduce the unique mediatorship of

Jesus Christ. We still need to profess that Jesus Christ is Lord and saviour.

The hope of Africa’s future remains in the patronage of Mary who, under the title Mary Assumed into Heaven, is also South Africa’s patron, whom we ask to intercede for us as Africans so that the merciful God may be on our side.

One of the missions of the Church in Africa is to effect God’s graces among all Christians through prayer. The Rosary will help us achieve a real transformation in Africa.

For more information contact: The Vocations Directors:

Fatima Convent P O Box 7 GLEN COWIE, 1061 Cell: 076 923 8319 Tel: 013 298 1006

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NOVEMBER 9 - 11 Search for Life by Fr Pierre Lavoipierre NOVEMBER 23 - 25 Mary, the Mother, has the message by Deacon Tony de Freitas

DECEMBER 7 - 16 8-Day directed retreats by Fr Urs Fischer and Br Crispin Graham DECEMBER 24 - JANUARY 1, 2013

A SPIRITUAL CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY: Praying constantly, bring your faith to life

by Fr Urs Fischer

Personally guided retreats may be arranged at any time throughout the year to suit individual need.

Reception: Fr Urs Fischer Fax

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The Southern Cross, June 27 to July 3, 2012

BOOK REVIEWS

Letters reveal saintly Dorothy Day’s mind ALL THE WAY TO HEAVEN: The Selected Letters Of Dorothy Day, edited by Robert Ellsberg. Marquette University Press. 2010.

408pp. ISBN: 0767932811 Reviewed by Paddy Kearney OROTHY Day was perhaps the most influential Catholic woman in the United States during the 20th century.

Twenty years after her death in 1980, Cardinal John O’Connor of New York petitioned the Vatican for her cause of canonisation to be instituted.

If Day is canonised one day, she will be a dramatically different saint from most of those recognised in this way, but in good company with Augustine of Hippo.

As a young woman, she had an abortion (which she “regretted every day” of her life thereafter), lived with a man and bore an illegitimate child, and after a year-long marriage to another man, walked out on him.

The rest of her life was what might be called “repentance through good works”, like founding and sustaining the Catholic Worker, a weekly newspaper, as well as numerous Catholic Worker (CW) houses where vast numbers of poor and troubled people found shelter.

A noted pacifist she frequently went to prison for her anti-war activities.

Not that Day had any aspirations to be declared a saint—in fact, quite the opposite. Rather cheekily she said that she didn’t want to be “trivialised” by canonisation, and

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thought the money needed for the lengthy process should rather be spent on the poor.

Robert Ellsberg, who edited her letters, had already edited her diaries for a book entitled The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day. He was able to start on these two magisterial works only in 2005 after the 25 years during which her papers had been sealed in accordance with her wishes.

As she had kept no copies of her letters, Ellsberg had to depend on those of her correspondents who preserved their letters and were willing to make them available.

It seems that Day spent a large part of her time writing letters so that by the time of her old age she wrote about “the burden of an immense correspondence that I cannot keep up with”. The burden must have been all the greater because, according to Ellsberg, “in every case she connected intensely with the needs of her correspondents just as she did with the people close at hand”. Some letters could only be written after “an hour in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament”.

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he book begins with what Ellsberg entitles “A Love Story”, which covers 1922-32, the time of her relationship with Forster Batterham, a man she greatly loved, the father of her child, Tamar.

Day’s relationship with Batterham, though passionate, was doomed to failure. He did not believe in marriage and she felt she

could not continue to live with him if they were not married.

“Do I have to be condemned to celibacy all my days, just because of your pig-headedness?” she wrote.

Ultimately, however, she had to say: “It is hard for me to take you seriously—you despise so utterly the things that mean so much to me.”

Once she had decided that she would not go on trying to persuade her beloved Forster, she threw herself into a completely different life, the catalyst for which was meeting Peter Maurin, described as a “French peasant philosopher”, a man 20 years her senior.

What they had in common, according to Ellsberg, was “a pas-

Community Notice Turffontein Catholic Church Holy Family parish is building a New Wall of Rembrance and would like to relocate the existing Memorial Plaques to the new wall and garden.

Families of these deceased parishioners are asked to contact the Parish on 011 434 0206 asap.

Fr Duncan Tsoke, Priest in Charge, 078 479 2781

Bishops, no matter how wrong I thought them, would cause me to leave the Church.”

To her arsenal of prayer and letters she added another weapon. It was not enough just to pray that people would change their attitude or behaviour (or to plead with them in letters). Penance should be added. In that spirit she gladly accepted the daily insults that came her way.

When she was frequently jailed for civil disobedience she was pleased that at least for a short time (a day, a week, a month) she shared a little of the misery of the poor.

For the same reason she declined about 14 invitations to receive honorary doctorates from Catholic colleges and universities. “I have a deep conviction that we must stay as close as possible to the poor, as close to the bottom as we can, to walk the little way, as St Thérèse [of Lisieux] has it.”

During Vatican II she came to Rome with fifty other women from around the world to fast for ten days while they lobbied various bishops (Durban’s Denis Hurley among them) to vote for a complete ban on nuclear weapons.

The “Gandhian technique” adopted by the women fasting she said was actually the “Christ technique...to transform others, to change their attitudes, instead of just winning a victory over them.”

Robert Ellsberg has done a magnificent job in revealing the fascinating Dorothy Day through her letters.

sion to connect their faith with the pressing social issues of the day.”

She liked Maurin’s idea of starting a newspaper that would promote solidarity with the workers and criticise the social system from the perspective of the Gospel.

In the 1940s, Day insisted that a strictly pacifist position be taken by the Catholic Worker. Those CW communities that refused to distribute the paper for that reason, were told in no uncertain terms that they should disaffiliate from the movement.

This made life difficult for Day. “God be praised, I am deluged with many troubles and anxieties”, she writes in one letter, “and the work proceeds with the utmost difficulties. At least 75% of the CW movement is against me, and my feathers are torn out one by one”.

Not every letter, however, elicited that heroic virtue. How’s this for a frank opening line: “I could curse and tear my hair out whenever I read one of your letters.”

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mong the most fascinating letters are those to the hierarchy.

Though immensely respectful in such correspondence Day did not feel she needed the permission of bishops or clergy “to start a [CW] house or to practise the works of mercy”.

She called herself an “obedient Catholic” and there was no doubt about her fierce commitment to the Church: “nothing would ever drive me from the Church. No pronouncement from the Pope or the

A month in the Holy Land – without leaving home THIRTY DAYS IN THE HOLY LAND WITH JESUS: A Holy Land Devotional, by Charles H Dyer. Moody Publishers, Chicago. 2012. 256pp. ISBN: 9780802402844 Reviewed by Günther Simmermacher HE Holy Land is sometimes called “the Fifth Gospel” because the physical proximity to the events reported in the New Testament can bring alive the story of Jesus’ life, ministry and sacrifice.

Charles H Dyer’s book is a commendable attempt to bring alive the “Fifth Gospel” for those who lack the means to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It also revives memories for those who have been, thereby perhaps refreshing the spiritual benefits of that journey, and the book helps to prepare those who are planning to go.

Dyer is thoroughly qualified to offer such direction: he is a professor in biblical studies at the evangelical Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and a licensed tour guide who has visited the Holy Land more than 75 times.

Thirty Days in the Holy Land With Jesus, as the title suggests, is intended as a thirty-day reflection, with each day being framed around a place in the Holy Land. Some of these are

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ORFORD

CONSTRUCTION

the obvious sites, others are astutely selected. So when Dyer takes us off the beaten pilgrim path to the top of Mount Arbel, which overlooks the Sea of Galilee, he reflects on the small size of the geographical area which served as the arena for Jesus’ Galilean ministry.

Dyer suggests that one should read only one chapter a day, and prayerfully contemplate it with the aid of the carefully constructed reflection points which he provides. This is a very good idea, though his breezy, conversational style tempts the reader to skip to the next chapter.

The book is unmistakably

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ATTORNEYS

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Protestant in tone. So Dyer lists among the putative highlights of a pilgrimage a visit to the Garden Tomb, the site where Protestants commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection, as opposed to the church of the Holy Sepulchre, which archaeological consensus acknowledges as the only likely site of the crucifixion.

The author’s continuous references to “Israel”, instead of the Holy Land (never mind Palestine), is a peculiar characteristic of conservative American Protestantism. It becomes jarring when Dyer locates a hike from Jerusalem to Jericho in Israel, when a significant portion of that path, including the destination, is in the West Bank, the occupied Palestinian territories. The last time Jericho was “in Israel”, the land was run by the Samarians.

Dyer reads the Bible literally; a simple faith permeates his book, and rightly so (even as one might be tempted to dispute some of his exegesis); a devotional book probably isn’t the place to enter into the finer points of biblical scholarship.

Although written with a Protestant audience in mind, Thirty Days in the Holy Land With Jesus has much to offer for Catholic readers, and is recommended for all pilgrims, physical and virtual, to the Holy Land.

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The Southern Cross, June 27 to July 3, 2012

CLASSIFIEDS

Unknown direct bank deposits

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HE business manager of The Southern Cross has appealed to its subscribers, advertisers and church distributors who have deposited money directly into the newspaper’s current account between September 1, 2011 and June 2012 to come forward and claim these deposits if their account has not been credited.

“We are currently holding a number of unallocated deposits

as the correct beneficiary reference has not been supplied and we are therefore unable to identify them,” said Pamela Davids.

Unallocated deposits might state the depositor as “Catholic Church” without an indication of the purpose for the deposits or identity of the depositor.

“In cases like that, we cannot know what the payments are for, or often even by whom they were made. As a result we cannot

provide the service which we have been paid for,” Ms Davids said.

“In order to claim your deposit, sufficient proof must be provided.” she said.

Claims may be e-mailed with a copy of the deposit slip to admin@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465 3850. Claims and deposit slips may also be posted to The Southern Cross, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.

Religions on corruption Continued from page 1 shall not steal’,” he said, quoting the eighth Commandment.

“Nowhere do kings and leaders get given a break in this commandment.”

He said one should be more accountable when they accept power, but instead today the biggest perpetrators shout the loudest and the country is caught in the politics of fear.

Methodist Reverend Alan

Storey said even legally acquired items can be corrupt as they are unethical: “A million-rand car allowance is legal but it is corrupt because there are people with nothing.”

Reverend Siyabulela Gidi said we will only know what is corrupt if we listen to the people and give them a safe place to report corrupt actions.

Archbishop Brislin said the response of silence is no longer

Community Calendar

To place your event, call Lara Moses at 021 465 5007 or e-mail l.moses@scross.co.za (publication subject to space)

CAPE TOWN: Helpers of God’s Precious Infants meet every last Saturday of the month except in December, starting with Mass at 9:30 am at the Salesians Institue Community Chapel in Somerset Road, Cape Town. Mass will be followed by a vigil and procession to Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Bree Street. For further information contact Colette Thomas on 083 412 4836 or 021 593 9875 or Br Daniel Manuel on 083 544 3375 NELSPRUIT: Adoration of the blessed sacrement at St Peter’s parish. Every

Pray that AFRICA may draw closer to the HEART OF CHRIST 2 Chron 7:14 Matthew 7:7-12

CASA SERENA The retirement home with the Italian flair.

7A Marais Road, Bedfordview. Provides full board and lodging, medical services and transport. Senior citizens wishing to retire in this beautiful Home, please phone 011 284 2917 www.casaserena.co.za

Tuesday from 8am to 4:45pm followed by Rosary Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 5:30pm.

PRETORIA: First Saturday: Devotion to Divine Mercy. St Martin de Porres, Sunnyside, 16:30. Tel Shirley-Anne 012 361 4545.

JOHANNESBURG: Rosary at Marie Stopes clinic, Peter Place, Sandton. First Saturday of every month, 10:30-12:00. Also Gandhi Square, Main Rd. Third Saturday of every month, 10:30-12:00. Tel: Joan 011 782-4331

an option for faith-based communities.

“We need to uphold our values. Faith-based communities can work together. There is a great spiritual wealth and common values between us. We should also work with civil society, who have similar values, to stamp out corruption.”

He said it was time to correct the imbalances that corruption had created.

Liturgical Calendar Year B Weekdays Year 2

Sunday, July 1, 13th Sunday of the Year Wisdom 1: 13-15, 2: 23-24, Psalms 30: 2, 4-6, 11-13, 2 Corinthians 8: 7, 9, 13-15, Mark 5: 21-43 Monday, July 2, feria Amos 2: 6-10, 13-16, Psalm 50: 16-23, Matthew 8: 1822 Tuesday, July 3, St Thomas Ephesians 2: 19-22, Psalm 117: 1-2, John 20: 24-29 Wednesday, July 4, feria Amos 5: 14-15, 21-24, Psalm 50: 7-13, 16-17, Matthew 8: 28-34 Thursday, July 5, feria Amos 7, 10-17, Psalm 19: 8-11, Matthew 9: 1-8 Friday, July 6, feria Amos 8: 4-6, 9-12, Psalm 119:, 2, 10, 20, 30, 40, 131, Matthew 9: 9-13 Saturday, July 7, feria Amos 9: 11-15, Psalm 85: 9, 11- 14, Matthew 9: 14-17 Sunday, July 8, 14th Sunday of the Year Ezekiel 2: 2-5, Psalm 123, 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10, Mark 6: 1-6

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO #504. ACROSS: 4 Honesty, 8 Ionian, 9 Bernard, 10 Stench, 11 Sacked, 12 Obdurate, 18 Cannibal, 20 Charge, 21 Custom, 22 Old maid, 23 Lead on, 24 Protege. DOWN: 1 Mission, 2 Unready, 3 Lancer, 5 Overseen, 6 Eunice, 7 Target, 13 Acceding, 14 Ebb-tide, 15 Flaming, 16 Whaler, 17 Prompt, 19 Nausea.

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Births • First Communion • Confirmation • Engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • Ordination jubilee • Congratulations • Deaths • In memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday Accommodation • Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Others Please include payment (R1,15 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

DEATH

ISAAC—Helen (née Gravell) beloved wife of Colin, devoted mother of Brad and Kaitlin; daughter of Maureen (née Ferraris) and sister of Debbie, Susan and Jenny. Died peacefully June 11, in Sydney, Australia. You will be in our hearts forever. May she rest in peace.

ISAAC—Helen (née Gravell). Died peacefully June 11, in Sydney, Australia.

Deeply mourned by her uncle Ron Ferraris and family. May she rest in peace.

IN MEMORIAM

MEIRING—At 4:25am on Thursday, June 30, 2011 our youngest son Stephen John age 47, stepped into eternity and entered the joys of our masters house.

You are a brave heart and a joy to remember. Forever in our prayers. God love you, Mom and Dad. TOWERS—Lloyd John, 5/2/1993–26/6/2002. Our son and brother. A love beyond compare. Mom, Dad and Kelly.

PERSONAL

ABORTION is murder – Silence on this issue is not golden, it’s yellow! Avoid ‘Pro-abortion’ politicians.

ABORTION WARNING: ‘The Pill’ can abort, swiftly and undetected. It clinically makes the womb inhospitable to, and reject those early ‘accidental’ conceptions (new lives) which sometimes occur while using it. (Medical facts stated in its pamphlet) FOR INFORMATION about St Padre Pio. Post gift and request to P O Box 5122, Secunda, 2302, RSA. YOU CAN have no culture of life until you have a culture of Christ. See www. abort73.com/end_abortion

PRAYERS

HOLY ST JUDE, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen. Paola.

HOLY ST JUDE, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you I have recourse from the

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depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen. RCP O MOST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity.

O Star of the Sea, help me and show me where you are, Mother of God. Queen of heaven and earth I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity. There is none who can withstand your power, O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands. “Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days and then publish.

Nicoletta.

REMEMBER O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession and was left unaided.

Inspired with this confidence, we fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins our Mother.

To you do we come, before you we stand sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not our petitions, but in your mercy, hear and answer us.

Amen. Joy.

THANKS

GRATEFUL,thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Our Mother Mary and Ss Joseph, Anthony, Jude and Martin de Porres for prayers answered. RCP.

ACCOMMODATION

CAPE TOWN: Cape Peninsula Beautiful homes to buy or rent. Maggi-Mae 082 892 4502, AIDA Cape Lifestyle Homes, 021 782 9263 maggimae@aida capelifestyle.co.za

KNYSNA: Self-catering accommodation for 2 in Old Belvidere with wonderful Lagoon views. 044 387 1052.

KZN SOUTH COAST: Honeywood: Luxury chalets & The Cellar boutique restaurant. 7 x 4-sleeper luxury chalets. Quiet urban forest retreat opposite Sea Park Catholic Church. Ideal for retreats & holidays www.honeywoodsa.co.za honeywood@honey woodsa.co.za Tel 039 695 1036 Fax 086 585 0746.

MARIANELLA: Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.” Fully equipped with amazing sea views.

Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy. Tel: Malcolm Salida 082 784 5675 or mjsalida@ mweb.co.za SEDGEFIELD: Beautiful self-catering garden flat sleeps four, two bedrooms, open-plan lounge, kitchen, fully equipped. 5min walk to lagoon. Contact 082 900 6282.

STRAND: Beachfront flat to let. Stunning views, fully equipped. Garage, one bedroom, sleeps 3-4. R450 p/night for 2 people-low season. Phone Brenda 082 822 0607

RETREATS

PLETTENBERG BAY: Sat Chit Anand Interfaith Spiritual Retreat Centre.

Make space in your life for Spirit. Enjoy a peaceful holiday with optional meditation, mass, theology classes, yoga. Interfaith chapel, library, and healing centre. Self-catering cottages. Priests stay free.

See www.satchitanand.co. za for more info, Phone 044 533 0453 or email satchitanand@global.co. za

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

LONDON: Protea House: Single per night R300, twin R480. Self-catering, busses and underground nearby.

Phone Peter 0044 208 7484834.

BALLITO: Up-market penthouse on beach, self-catering. 084 790 6562.

FISH HOEK: Self-catering accommodation, sleeps 4.

Secure parking. Tel: 021 785 1247.

GORDON’S BAY: Beautiful en-suite rooms available at reasonable rates. Magnificent views, breakfast on request. Tel: 082 774 7140. bzhive@telkomsa.net

MICASA TOURS Pilgrimage For 2013

Easter Pilgrimage to Lourdes & Nevers, 28 Mar-6 Apr 2013 Holy Land & Fatima, Portugal, 3-16 May 2013 Feast of St Anthony, Padua, Italy, 9-20 June 2013 Call us now for more information!

Tel: 012 342 0179 / Fax: 086 676 9715 Email: info@micasatours.co.za

PO Box 2372, CAPE TOWN, 8000 Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850

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14th Sunday: July 8 Readings: Ezekiel 2:2-5, Psalm 123, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Mark 6:1-6

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HERE is an ancient Catholic tradition of shifting rather uncomfortably at the prospect of a “vocation”; the readings for next Sunday show us why we might reasonably feel some discomfort, but also show that there is really nothing to worry about if God is calling us to do a job that only we can do.

The first reading is the story of Ezekiel’s calling to his prophetic ministry. It comes immediately after his vision of the Living God, by the River Chebar in Babylon, and now we listen as the vocation comes to him.

He is lying on his face, and “the Spirit came to me and told me, ‘Stand up’.” Then he is told what he has to do: “I am sending you to the children of Israel, to rebellious gentiles, who have rebelled against me, and their ancestors sinned against me, down to the present day”.

So we realise that it is quite a task that Ezekiel is taking upon himself, and the only consolation he gets is to be told that “whether they listen to you or not (for they are a rebellious house) they are going to know that a prophet was in their midst”.

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What is our vocation?

Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

You or I might be looking for excuses to avoid this rather alarming vocation.

The psalm for next Sunday is one of the “songs of ascent” that the Israelites used to sing on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the great feasts, and the psalmist never shows any sign of running away from his calling: “I lift up my eyes to the One who is seated in heaven...like the eyes of slaves on the hands of their lords.”

All he asks is “show us mercy, Lord, show us mercy, for we are full of contempt”. The singer realises, what we all have to learn, that the only place that we can look is to the God who never ceases to invite us to perform the task for which we were created.

Paul knows that. The seco nd reading next Sunday, our last glimpse at 2 Corinthians, comes from a point in the letter where he is defending himself against the accusation that he is not a “real apostle”, and if there is one point on which it is a mistake to challenge Paul, it is his claim to have seen Jesus and to have received a vocation from him.

So Paul, with some reluctance, tells the story of some of his mystical experiences, while pretending that he is really talking about someone else, in order to give the kind of validation that his opponents were looking for.

Then, in our reading, he goes on to talk of his “thorn in the flesh” (we do not know what it is: epilepsy, an eye-disease, sexual incontinence, and even, rather unkindly, Mrs Paul, have all been suggested), the effect of which is to remind him that “my grace is enough for you; for power is made perfect in weakness...for when I am weak, then I am powerful”. That may be a phrase for us to meditate on this week, if we are feeling anxious about our vocation.

What makes a good father?

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COUPLE of weeks ago we celebrated “Father’s Day”, an annual day on which we’re asked to get in touch with the gratitude we should feel towards our own fathers.

For some of us this is easy, we had good fathers; but for many it’s difficult: How do you feel gratitude if your father was someone who was mostly absent or abusive?

Sadly, our world has too many absent and abusive fathers. Because of this, many of us go through life struggling, however unconsciously, with the capacity to find a healthy balance between freedom and discipline in our lives. Instead we are forever vacillating between being too hard on ourselves or too easy on ourselves.

Moreover, if we had an absent or abusive father, we tend to go through life always unconsciously seeking something that has been withheld from us, namely, our father’s approval. This leaves us inhibited, often angry, and hungering for a father.

Father-hunger, the hunger to be affirmed and blessed by our own fathers or by someone who represents him, is today perhaps the deepest hunger in the world, especially among men. Not enough people have been affirmed and blessed by their own fathers or the father figures in their lives.

What is a father? Anthropologists tell us that the archetypal father is meant to have these qualities: he is meant to order, carry, feed, and bless his family. What does this entail?

First of all, he is meant to be a princi-

Conrad

In the g osp el for next Sunday, we see Jesus working out his vocation, that of proclaiming his Father’s kingdom, on his first return home to Nazareth; but “local boy makes good” is not, after all, going to be the headline in the local newspaper.

Instead, he is greeted with an aggressive response: “Where does this stuff come from? What’s this cleverness that has been given to him? What about the miracles happening through his hands?”

They know his family: “Isn’t he the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of Jacob and Joses and Judah and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?”. Jesus does not retreat a single inch, but pronounces his verdict: “A prophet is only dishonoured in his own backyard and among his kinsfolk and in his household.” (We can imagine Ezekiel and Paul nodding their heads in agreement).

Then we realise the consequences of his compatriots’ failure to realise his true vocation: “He was unable to perform any miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.”

Mark’s verdict is devastating: “He was astonished at their lack of faith.”

And we shall pray this week that the same judgment will not be levelled against us.

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

ple of order rather than disorder. A good father lives in such a way that his family feels safe and secure when he’s around.

A bad father, through absence, nonreliability, or by being abusive, makes the family feel unsafe. For example, we see how a father can be a principle of disorder in a situation where he is unfaithful, is an alcoholic, or is nursing some other addiction. His behaviour then will be unpredictable and his children will be forever guessing as to whether he will come home or not—and what kind of mood he will be in if he does come home.

Slowly the unpredictability will wear on his children to the point where they will feel their father as a principle of disorder, of chaos. Conversely, a good father, even if his family considers him boring and unexciting, will make his family feel safe and secure.

Next, a good father carries his family rather than asks them to carry him. A good father is an adult, an elder, not a fellow-sibling or a child (in his behaviour) forever demanding that the family carry him.

A good father does not make his own problems and concerns, his own tiredness and heartaches, the centre of family’s

attention. Rather he relates beyond his own tiredness and heartaches so as to make the focus of attention the heartaches and headaches of his family.

Beyond this, a good father feeds his family rather than feeds off them. A good father does not demand, however subtly and unconsciously, that his children bring meaning, satisfaction, and glory into his own life. Rather he is more concerned that his children and his family find meaning, satisfaction, and happiness in their own lives.

Good parents feed their children; bad parents feed off them.

Finally, a good father affirms and admires his children rather than demand that they affirm and admire him. A good father expresses to his children his pride in them as opposed to being threatened by their talents and achievements. He doesn’t demand that his children express their pride in him.

The American activist priest Fr Daniel Berrigan, in a mature autobiography written late in his life, shares how he had to struggle with various issues his entire life, particularly with authority, because of the absence of a blessing from his own father.

He writes, for example, how he would be afraid to share with his father the good news that he had just published a book because he feared his father’s jealousy.

After sharing this, he asks his readers: Is it any wonder that he has been leery and suspicious of every authority figure during his entire adult life? The absence of a father’s blessing leaves us with a constriction of the heart.

Perhaps an image can be helpful here: When a cow gives birth, her calf comes out of her womb severely constricted, rigid, bound-up in a glue-like afterbirth.

But nature has taken this into account and given the mother the proper instinct.

She immediately turns round and licks that constriction off her calf. A soon as she’s finished, the calf stands up, tests its legs, and begins to walk on its own.

As humans, we are born into the same condition. We also come into this life constricted, except that for us this isn’t so much a physical thing. It’s a much deeper and more complex constriction—and our parents are meant to remove it by ordering, carrying, feeding, and blessing us.

No father does this perfectly, but if your father did it even half-adequately, express your gratitude and count your blessings!

Southern Crossword #504

ACROSS 4. True sincerity (7) 8. No, Ian, I am a Hellenic islander (6) 9. Saintly canine (7) 10. Listen, choir has a bad odour (6) 11. Put in a bag and fired (6) 12. Bad route for the stubborn (8) 18. Does he prefer a tender missionary? (8) 20. Cost of not being free (6) 21. Habitual practice (6) 22. She’s advanced in being unwed (3,4) 23. Go ahead! (4,2) 24. Peer got someone who is guided (7)

DOWN 1. Redemptorists may preach one in the parish (7) 2. Dry dune won’t suit boy scout (7) 3. Cavalryman who stabbed Jesus? (6) 5. Supervised by a bishop? (8) 6. Timothy’s mother (2 Tim 1) (6) 7. This is your aim (6) 13. Giving your assent (8) 14. Debit be around at the recession (3-4) 15. Fiery (7) 16. Kind of ship to rescue Jonah? (6) 17. Assist hesitant speaker without delay (6) 19. Sick feeling (6)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

PRIEST came home and saw a group of the neighbourhood children gathered around the front steps. He asked what it was they were

doing.

“We’re playing church,” one said.

The puzzled Father inquired further and was told: “Well, we’ve already sung, prayed and listened to the sermon. Now, we’re all outside smoking.”

Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.